SYDNEY TECH GIANTS UNITE TO TAKE ON SILICON VALLEY

TECHSYDNEY is on a mission to transform the city into Australia's very own Silicon Valley, attracting support from the likes of Atlassian and Airbnb.

The not-for-profit aims to foster Sydney's entrepreneurial ecosystem by serving as a hub for technology initiatives and advocacy to government.

Serial entrepreneurs Dean McEvoy of Spreets, Mick Liubinskas of muru-D, Kim Heras of 25fifteen, Riley Batchelor of tidyme and Gen George of OneShift joined forces to launch the group.

More than 50 tech startups and firms have backed the venture, including Canva, Blackbird Ventures, LinkedIn, The Iconic, Fishburners, Uber, Nabo and Tyro.

TechSydney CEO Dean McEvoy (pictured right with Mike Cannon-Brookes of Atlassian) says collaboration is the key to ensuring the group's success.

"Recent moves from all levels of government to support our startup and technology sector have been heartening, but we can't rely on them to carry it forward," McEvoy says.

"By working together, we will drive the initiatives that will turn Sydney into a world class, top 10 hub for technology companies."

TechSydney will focus on improving the sector by creating a hub for startups and high growth technology companies to meet, attracting world-class technology talent to Australia and promoting the industry as a viable career path.

Co-founder Gen George says the concept was developed after Sydney's global startup ecosystem ranking slipped from 12 to 16 last year.

"Sydney has a lot of potential to be a serious competitor as a global startup ecosystem ranker," George says.

"However, in true entrepreneurial style the Sydney startup community knows if we want to have a fighting chance of being in the top 10 globally, we need to connect all the stakeholders from universities, incubators, investors, startups, small businesses, corporates to truly drive this from the ground up.

"Through an inclusive approach, TechSydney has brought together the community to understand our biggest challenges as an ecosystem."

The group will officially launch at an invitation-only dinner at the Powerhouse on May 30, with Sydney's top 200 technology companies in attendance.